American Comics: Trading Tom Cat

I'm numb! My whole body is numb!

Fuck, what the hell is this black technology?!

The legendary unlimited bullets?

Frank played with the Colt Python in his hand with great interest. The gun with unlimited bullets was more exciting to Frank than any legendary artifact. No, to him, this was his own artifact!

"Damn it, buddy, if you tell me this doesn't belong to me, I'll fight you to the death!" Frank roared excitedly.

Locke shrugged indifferently, picked up his toy gun, and fired a shot. A laser beam, like a tongue of fire, shot out and instantly cut a dark crack in the opposite wall.

Frank: ? ? ? ? ?

Chapter Seven: The Fallen Hellfire

A muscle car sped along a wide road, and Frank, sitting in the driver's seat, casually tossed a document to Locke.

"This is the information about Hellfire that you asked me to find."

Locke casually opened it and began browsing.

After only a few glances, Locke couldn't help but frown.

Because this world is not a single Marvel branch world, the timeline was inevitably affected to some extent, but some truly important events still happened.

Take, for example, Black King Shaw of Hellfire, who is now completely dead. After that, the once-renowned Hellfire Club was also greatly affected. Locke had anticipated this, but he did not expect that the impact on Hellfire would be much greater than he imagined.

This once influential organization among mutants has now nearly disappeared.

Locke closed the document. According to Locke's memory, after the death of Black King Shaw, Hellfire should have gone through three paths: becoming more powerful, or even having a successor, White King or Black King. In some versions, Professor X and Magneto even served as White King and Black King. According to this information, it is obviously not going to go this way.

The other two possibilities are that the White Queen and Professor X get closer, or even that the White Queen might join the X-Men. This possibility can also be ruled out, because if that were the case, Hellfire wouldn't have fallen to such a state.

That leaves only the one closest to the TV series' direction: the White Queen is in a bad situation. The three cuckoo sisters in the TV series are said to be clones of the White Queen. Under what circumstances would a large number of clones appear? Naturally, when she is captured. This is also the one that best fits the direction of Hellfire's complete downfall.

Locke's slightly furrowed brows quickly relaxed: "It's not entirely a bad thing."

If Locke were facing a Hellfire near its peak, he would naturally choose to cooperate, but the current situation is clearly not like that, so the approach can be changed.

With the latitudinal trading ability fully activated and the encounter with the extraordinary cat Tom, Locke's trump cards are constantly increasing. Under these circumstances, his long-dormant ambition is no longer suppressed, and the flames of ambition are rising ever higher.

"arrive!"

Locke looked up at the nightclub, which was at best third-rate, and raised an eyebrow. This Hellfire was even worse than he had imagined.

"Let's go."

Two burly men got out of the car, one on each side. It was still daytime and the nightclub hadn't opened yet, but that didn't stop Locke and Frank. With just one kick, the nightclub door flew out of the door.

"who!"

An angry voice rang out, and two people walked out. One was very thin and had a shifty look, while the other was the complete opposite, with a fat head and big ears that were larger than average.

Name: Rat Man

Talent: Rodent variant

Abilities: Can summon mice, communicate in mouse language

Rating: Third-rate on the surface

Name: Pig Man

Talent: Pig variant

Ability: Extraordinary physique

Rating: Third-rate on the surface

Locke narrowed his eyes. After the death of Black King Shaw, the mutant bipolar world of Professor X and Magneto rose to power, and most mutants submitted to the mutant bipolar world. There might still be wild mutants occasionally outside, but the possibility of multiple mutants appearing was very small. It seemed that this place might really be a fallen Hellfire.

However, pig-men and rat-men, what kind of trash are they?

As for the evaluation of being a third-rate being on the surface, according to the Marvel series' ranking system, in addition to various classifications used in smaller areas, such as the mutant ranking system, the more general classifications can be divided into: mortal, surface level, Celestial level, single universe level, multiverse level, and so on.

Leaving aside ordinary people, the surface level is divided into first-class, second-class, and third-class.

The top-tier on Earth are like Thor and the Hulk; the second-tier are the core of the force, such as Captain America and Ant-Man; and the third-tier are like Hawkeye and Black Widow.

In other words, although these two guys in front of us are also mutants, their fighting ability is not much stronger than that of an adult strong man; they are just trash among mutants.

"Where is the White Queen?" Locke asked indifferently.

Upon hearing this, the two mutants' expressions changed, and they became alert. They exchanged a glance, let out a roar, and the pigman's already large body swelled up even more as he charged forward with thunderous steps.

The rat-man mutant took a few steps back and began to emit a strange tone as if summoning something.

Locke glanced at him casually: "Frank, it's yours now."

Frank nodded indifferently. These two guys posed almost no threat; he might as well give them a good workout.

Locke stepped aside as the pigman charged at him, who roared, "Don't run!"

He grabbed at him, seemingly trying to stop Locke. However, before he could even see Locke's movement, the pigman suddenly felt a pain in his ankle and stumbled, almost falling to his knees. By the time the pigman regained his senses, a tall figure had completely obscured him.

Frank clenched his fists, the muscles in his arms bulging.

"Kid, I'll play with you from now on."

On the other side, after passing the pigmen and glancing at the ratmen who seemed to be trembling with fear, Locke slowly stepped into the depths of the shop.

After walking through a long, dark passage, Locke arrived at a door, gently pushed it open, and the door creaked open.

The room was very dark; the only light visible was a cigarette butt flickering.

"Snapped!"

A snap of fingers rang out, and the entire room became bright.

In a fairly tidy room, a curvaceous and alluring figure was crouching under a thin blanket, smoking a cigarette intermittently.

Locke casually walked to the other side, sat down without any ceremony, and stared at her, his gaze sweeping over her hot, beautiful body.

The White Queen didn't care at all, and didn't even care about Locke's presence.

"I had long heard that the White Queen of Hellfire was a top beauty, and seeing her today, I can confirm it is true."

The White Queen remained unconcerned, as if she wasn't even talking about herself.

"It's a pity that the current White Queen is not the real person."

For a moment, the White Queen stopped smoking, but after only a few seconds, she resumed her indifferent demeanor, though she no longer remained silent.

"You're not a mutant!"

Locke nodded: "So?"

"Do you really think that only mutants can save you? The White Queen, or rather, the White Queen's mental projection?"

Chapter Eight: Testing Each Other

The White Queen's expression changed instantly. She sat up straight, and a dazzling light appeared in her eyes.

Instantly, it felt as if countless fine needles were constantly bombarding Locke's brain.

Locke's expression remained unchanged as he calmly looked at the White Queen.

What is the limit of humanity? It's not about having superhuman strength. The true limit of humanity is the ultimate physical ability, the ultimate combat skills, and the unwavering will forged through countless trials. These combined make up the true limit of humanity, the ability of a mortal to defy these superhumans.

"Your mental strength is weaker than I thought."

"Ten seconds!"

"It will take you at least ten seconds to break my spirit."

"I have plenty of time!" the White Queen said coldly.

With a snap, a gun slammed onto the table. The White Queen was momentarily stunned, then laughed.

"I have no body now, so how can you kill me? And in ten seconds?"

Locke chuckled: "Your mental power is indeed very strong, but it's not the best. Professor X is definitely above you."

"So what?" The White Queen remained noncommittal.

"Even Professor X couldn't leave his mental powers outside for long, but you, who are weaker, did."

"Excluding the almost impossible possibility that your mental power has suddenly increased to surpass Professor X in a short period of time, there is only one possibility: you have relied on external forces."

"So the question is, what is it? And where does it exist?"

Locke raised his gun, its cold, dangerous muzzle hanging straight above the White Queen's head, right between her eyebrows.

The White Queen paused for a moment, her face instantly turning ugly. She took a deep breath, and a captivating smile quickly appeared on her face.

"I was just kidding..."

"bump!"

Before she could finish speaking, a gunshot rang out, instantly interrupting the White Queen. A bullet grazed past her head and pierced through a vase behind her.

The White Queen's eyes widened: "You!"

Locke shrugged, a half-smile on his face, and said, "Sorry, I was just kidding."

The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and the White Queen's eyes flickered again, one second, two seconds...

Suddenly, the White Queen smiled beautifully.

"Alright, let's end this mutual probing here. You win."

"Now tell me, who exactly are you?"

"You're not a mutant, yet you're very confident and have a ruthless aura about you. Are you from the military?"

Why does it have to be the military?

The White Queen smiled bitterly: "The military and capital are the only two entities besides mutants that have the ability to save me."

"Oh, it seems the guy who arrested you has some connections."

The White Queen was silent for a moment, then said, "Actually, I don't know who it is either."

"This mental projection of mine was created by me using a treasure I obtained by chance to save myself when the incident happened. My last memory is of my original body being surrounded and captured alive by a group of warriors with special equipment. Those guys seemed to know a lot about mutants and had many ways to counter them."

Locke nodded. There were quite a few like that. This country has never lacked human supremacists who discriminate against mutants as outsiders and conduct all sorts of cruel experiments. For example, the Sentinels and William Stryker.

The White Queen continued, "I spoke with Professor X. He's a pretty good guy. He helped me find my original body but failed. Professor X wouldn't just send the X-Men to attack potential targets for my sake. Magneto, on the other hand, might do that, but..."

The rest wasn't said directly, but Locke understood. Professor X was a kind-hearted person, so asking him for help was no problem. Magneto was a mutant supremacist, so asking him for help was also an option. However, the White Queen was not an option.

Black King Shaw created Magneto and killed Magneto's mother. In Magneto's eyes, the relationship between White Queen and Black King needs no further explanation. Not to mention, Magneto once had the opportunity to kill Black King for revenge, but White Queen not only stopped him but also beat him up. This created a huge grudge.

So anyone could potentially save the White Queen, except Magneto.

"If they don't have a lot of influence in the military or some kind of powerful capital, then forget it." After all, there aren't many people who can have a well-established combat formation and keep Professor X's existence a secret. Just thinking about it makes you realize that the other party's power is definitely not small.

The White Queen's eyes were somewhat dazed. In fact, it wasn't that no one had come during this time. The White Queen guarded the lousy Hellfire sign not because she had any special feelings for it, but simply because she wanted to use it to attract some truly capable individuals.

Unfortunately, those guys from before were either liars or cowards who backed down as soon as they heard the situation. Now, she was almost in despair.

“The military, capital…” Locke laughed: “It’s not impossible.”

Hydra is a powerful organization; even a single branch has a dense network of relationships.

"But what can you give me?"

The White Queen's eyes shone with an unprecedented light. She stood up, walked to Locke, and straddled his lap.

It must be said that the White Queen's mental power is truly formidable. Despite being just a projection, it gave Locke a real sense of fullness.

He slowly brought his breath close to Locke's ears and exhaled a seductive breath.

"All of Hellfire's assets and Shaw's entire estate are in my hands. Believe me, it's a sum that would tempt even the biggest capitalists."

"Furthermore, not only Hellfire, but I will also be yours."

Locke was silent for a moment, then gently lifted the White Queen's chin and said with a smile.

"A very tempting answer. Well then, it would be a pleasure to cooperate."

Locke had no interest in the legacy of Hellfire, but he was extremely interested in the White Queen.

The White Queen's psychic abilities are slightly weaker than Professor X's, but with her diamond-forming ability, she would be able to hold her own against either Magneto or Professor X alone. She is a true top-tier fighter, definitely a first-rate force on Earth!